In general, a touchscreen refers to a device incorporating an input detection means into a display means. The touchscreen includes a display unit, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), and a touch panel disposed on the display unit. The touchscreen does not use a mechanical keypad, but recognizes the position of a human finger or other objects touching a character or a specific position on the screen, thereby receiving the user's input through contact with the touchscreen.
Since the touchscreen requires no mechanical keypad and is easily operated, it is widely used as a guide display device in public places such as a subway, a department store and a bank which people often visit. Touchscreens are also widely applied to various terminals for sale. In recent years, it has been widely used in portable terminals such as mobile phones, DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) receivers, and car navigation systems.
The types of touch panels include a resistive type, a capacitive type, an electromagnetic type, a surface acoustic wave (SAW) type, and an infrared type. These various types of touch panels are employed for electronic products in consideration of signal amplification, difference in resolution, difficulty of design and processing technology, optical properties, electrical properties, mechanical properties, environmental properties, input properties, durability, and economic feasibility. Currently, the capacitive touch panel has the widest range of applications. The capacitive touch panel has a conductive layer formed on a film and connected to a controller via a connection terminal. Thus, the capacitive touch panel senses the position of a touch area by sensing change in capacitance of the corresponding area of the touch panel according to contact of a finger, a stylus, or the like.
As described above, capacitive touch panels are widely distributed and used in various fields. The capacitive touch panels have a limitation in that they require the user's body part such as fingers to contact the touch panel. This is not a big problem when the user holds and uses the touchscreen. However, in cases where the user needs to manipulate the touchscreen while performing other tasks with both hands, for example, a case where a guitar player needs to turn the page of sheet music displayed on the touchscreen while playing the guitar, or a case where the user uses the touchscreen positioned above the user while lying in bed, the user is required to stretch his or her arm in a direction opposite to the direction of gravity to manipulate the touchscreen, and thus cannot assume a comfortable resting position. In addition, when gaming is enjoyed on the touchscreen, strong touch the touchscreen frequently occurs. In this case, excessive physical pressure beyond simple touch is often applied to the touchscreen during gaming due to the excessive touch by the user. This causes a serious problem in terms of durability of the touchscreen. Accordingly, there is a need for a new touchscreen input technology that allows a user to remotely execute a touch input event to a touchscreen accurately and easily without directly touching the touchscreen.